At first it was the same old nightmare he had been experiencing for a few months.

"Are you sure you want to take this shift alone, Wilkins? I can stay with you if you want…"

Everything is dark and quiet. The smell of alcohol and blood fills the air but nobody is screaming in pain.

There is a light, coming from a door at the end of the room.

Remus walks towards the door and quietly opens it.

It is an office. Sort of.

The walls are hidden behind large metallic cupboards filled with what seem to be Muggle medicines.

The light is cold and falters slightly every couple of seconds.

There is a desk in the middle of the office. In front of it stands a woman. She is tall and has a dark complexion. She is wearing a strange uniform.

Behind the desks stands another woman. She is giving her back to the door, Remus can't see her face. She's taller than the other one, and is wearing a long white coat. She's scanning through the shelves, apparently searching for some kind of medications. Her hair is dark blond and is gathered in a low bun.

She speaks. Her voice is sweet and musical.

"Don't worry Kate. Go to the party and have fun… You deserve some rest, after all"

The woman in that strange uniform, Kate, rolls her eyes in exasperation.

"You could use some rest too, you know. How many hours have you slept this week? Ten? Eight?"

The blond woman turns around, smiling tiredly.

"Six. And I'm perfectly fine. Sleep is highly overrated"

Kate mutters something and finally exits the room, but Remus doesn't care. He's too busy staring at the girl in front of him.

Her eyes. His eyes.

Her skin is strained and her jaw looks badly bruised. Her cheeks are sunken and her complexion is so pale that she looks dead.

But those eyes. He could recognize them everywhere.

Cassandra.

She is smiling. She always smiles. But she isn't happy.

Why?

She was happy. He saw her.

An explosion echoes in the distance, and the floor trembles slightly. Cassandra, however, isn't worried by the little earthquake. She just keeps scanning through the shelves, eventually picking up a small white box. She sits at the desks and starts scribbling something on one of those Muggle notebooks.

After a while she takes off her white coat, showing her own uniform. It's different from Kate's one… it looks like the Aurors' one, but it's green, and the trousers are full of pockets.

Cassandra rubs her face with her hands. She's tired, despite what she has told Kate.

However, something happens that wakes her up from her numbness.

A thud. A growl. A crash.

Remus knows that growl so well. He has heard it coming from his own mouth so many times.

He wants to grab Cassandra and hold her close. He wants to take her away from that danger.

But he isn't there. And Cassandra jumps up from her chair, looking warily at a plastic curtain on her right.

"Who's there?"

Her tone is harsh and threatening, but she doesn't know. Oh, if only she knew.

Slowly Cassandra approaches the curtain, drawing a gun out of her left pocket.

A thud. A growl. A crash. A whimper.

Don't go through that curtain, Cassandra. Please. I'll find you and I'll take you with me. No more guns, no more explosions. But please, please… Don't go through that curtain.

"Miss Wilkins…"

Before Remus notices him, Cassandra is already holding a little boy close, pressing a hand on his mouth.

She murmurs something in a language Remus doesn't understand, but the boy nods and crawls out of the office as silently as he can.

As soon as he is out of the room, Cassandra lays her back on the door and closes it quietly, wincing every time she makes a sound.

She locks it.

From the inside.

"CASSANDRA WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING! OPEN THAT DAMN DOOR AND RUN"

But she can't hear him.

A growl. A crash. A howl.

It is coming. Closer and closer.

Cassandra is terrified. Her yes are wide and wild.

Her hold on the gun tightens.

With a hand she reaches for a strange black thing in her right pocket.

It's a muggle object… A walkie-talkie.

She turns it on. She is sweating and trembling.

" Roberts, come in. Over"

She is breathing heavily, waiting for someone to hear her.

A buzzing voice comes from that strange device. The sound is disturbed, but Remus can hear everything.

"Wilkins, this is Roberts. Go ahead."

A growl. A thud. Another thud.

It is coming closer.

Cassandra's voice is urgent, worried. She speaks fast but keeps her tone low.

"There is a wolf in the emergency Room. Break. It's… it's in the stocking section, it hasn't reached the patients yet. Break. I… I'll try to bring it outside the building, but you have to call for help ASAP. How copy? Over."

"Wilkins, I copy. We'll come ASAP. Over."

No, Cassandra.

Don't do that.

Run away.

You can't do anything. It's too strong.

But Cassandra doesn't listen to him. She approaches the curtain slowly, silently.

Usually, at this point Remus Lupin woke up covered in cold sweat ant tears, calling for her daughter in vain. The night after McGonagall's visit, however, something different happened.

His nose, powerful but weakened by years of muggle cigarettes, sniffed a peculiar scent.

Cinnamon, Orange, Mint and Lemon.

He didn't recognize that scent, but apparently Moony did, because he started howling in glee and hope.

Now, there had been a time in which Remus Lupin would have listened to the Wolf. In fact, when he was at Hogwarst he had learned to accept his feral side, enjoying the strength and the power that this implied.

Nobody had noticed the difference between old shy Remus and dangerous, dominant Moony, apart from the Marauders, because he hadn't felt the need to show off his strength and power using violence and growls. He liked being kind and patient, he liked expressing his dominance through his genius mind and pranks.

Cassandra appearance had been the only occasion in which Remus had shown his fangs. Literally. How could they even think to hide her from him, hurting her, letting her starve and die? She was his Cub, his daughter, and he was one of the most powerful Alphas the magical world had ever seen. Not even Fenrir Greyback stood a chance against his wrath, it didn't matter that, at the time, Remus was only fifteen years old.

He had never felt more alive. Burying his sharp teeth in the other wolf's limbs, ripping the flesh, feeling the blood flowing in his wolfish mouth. He still remembered the glorious morning after that full moon. Dumbledore was furious with Madame Pomfrey for having left the Shack open, giving him the opportunity to escape. He didn't know that a couple of magical shields couldn't compete with the strength of an enraged father. That, and the wand of the above-mentioned father's spectacled friend.

When the werewolf had marched into the Hospital wing, oh, what a show! The nurse was ready to faint and even the Headmaster blanched visibly. He was half-naked, covered in blood and sweat, his eyes glowing dangerously and his mouth stretched into a feral, murderous grin. And he was holding a two-year-old child. His two-year-old child.

Cassandra.

The one who shines upon men. That was the meaning of the name, and it was true.

She was perfect. She was beautiful, sweet, intelligent... She was his treasure, his pride and glory. He practically glowed when he was with her.

With Cassandra, however, old doubts and fears came back with full force. She had been hurt by other werewolves. People like him. He didn't want her to suffer again, he didn't want his inner wolf to put her into trouble. So he had started fighting Moony. Again. It was painful and he felt awful for a while, but his little angel was worth it.

But it hadn't been enough.

She had disappeared anyway.

And now she was gone.

Gone for good.

Dead.

Killed by a werewolf.

Despite having been raised by muggles.

Oh, the irony of fate.

He had tried to ignore the Wolf.

He had ignored Moony, he had ignored his howls of outrage when he had turned his back to the window of the restaurant.

He had chosen to abandon his feral side for good.

But the Wolf kept howling. And now, in the dazed atmosphere of that unusual dream, despite the almost automatic tendency to overlook him, Remus couldn't help but ask himself if there was still a point in pretending Moony didn't exist.

Soon enough, it became clear that there wasn't a point at all.

The idea was appealing. Abandon any kind of resistance, embrace his old furry friend.

Cassandra would have been happy to see her father finally reconciled with Moony.

Remus could practically see the Wolf jumping up and down, wiggling his tail hopefully.

"We'll find him, Sirius. We'll find the rat. You'll be free, and the family reunited…

… You paid for any possible crime you could commit in the future. Sorry is not your word to say".

Translation of the text in Latin (quote from the Hippocrate's Oath):
I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygiea, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:(...)I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; (...)But I will preserve the purity of my life and my arts.(...)In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of love with women or men, be they free or slaves.(...)If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practise my art, respected by all humanity and in all times; but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my life.